Sitting under a tree by the river, Alice and I were currently relaxing outside, taking in the sight of the yard. Well, I was taking the sight in, Alice was sleeping with her head on my lap. Two months have passed, and in that time both of us have learnt a lot and become a lot stronger than we previously were.
I learnt Flowing Strikes within a week and it followed exactly as Tael said. It’s a skill intended to be used against enemies who have higher Toughness, starting from weak blows you build up quickly to stronger points, until you find the point where your punches, sword swings or rapier strikes start doing damage. It involves controlling your speed, strength and energy and once you find the right amount of all three to cause damage, you fight normally using that amount. Flowing Strikes isn’t needed for enemies that were weaker or took damage easily.
The next lesson that was taught to me was done by Halone and it involved learning how to minimise my movements and increase the efficiency of the movements I did. At the same time, she taught me to dodge, deflect and counterattack. It took over a month for me to fully grasp everything she’d taught me, and I still required more practice, especially with counterattacking.
When it came to counterattacks, it was done on reflex. If I deflect or dodge an attack, I need to be able to strike out with a fist, kick or a weapon attack as soon as the attack is deflected or dodged, this is something that I found difficult to do. The same occurred with deflecting or dodging spells, though I had more success with this, which Halone found strange.
For the last two weeks I’ve been learning how to watch one’s movements and muscle tension to know when they would attack or defend, if they were going to move forward or back. Both Tael and Halone were teaching me at the same time, and my mind, while absorbing as much of the knowledge they were showing and demonstrating still felt overwhelmed with everything I had learnt.
So far I have noticed a huge amount progress with fighting. I knew that with Flowing River I was learning it very quickly, surprising both Halone and Tael with how quickly I picked up their techniques. In fact, they seemed rather happy with how I was picking up their teachings and had forgotten to officially welcome me as their disciple. Right now, they were arranging a ceremony of sorts and in the meantime they had given me a week to do as I wish, including leaving the dojo. I already knew what I wanted to do.
You may enter Dimensional Dungeons once again.
I had told Tael my intentions of entering a dungeon that wasn’t Tomb of Lilith and he had given me approval, in fact he seemed excited for me to try delving into a dungeon. His only condition was that it could only be Alice and I entering one by ourselves. He explained how Dimensional Dungeons worked as well. Multiple people could enter a Dimensional Dungeon, but you wouldn’t run into anyone who wasn’t a part of the group you entered with.
The biggest fear that people faced in these dungeons were mutations, as normal monsters could potentially mutate into different ranking monsters, which were Elite, General, Commander and finally Guardian, making the monster vastly stronger and more powerful. After some discussions, we found the best dungeon for me to enter was one named the Battlefield of Eternity, a level 45 Dimensional Dungeon. It posed danger enough for me to feel threatened, but wasn’t a maze of puzzles or traps, meaning I could fully focus on fighting.
Tael had given me a palm-sized stone that could be crushed to exit the dungeon in case of an emergency. After all, I wasn’t going in to lose my life but to train and gain some experience. Stroking Alice’s hair while she slept, I looked at my wrists. Tael had removed the chains on my wrists for the time being, and after doing a few rounds of training I found my speed and strength to be incredible. In a single second, I could punch about three to four times with enough strength to deal a lot of damage.
“Alice sweety, wake up. We need to head home and get ready.”
“Mmmm”
Raising her head sleepily, Alice looked at me before smiling widely and hugging me. Alice only acted this way towards me, never once ignoring what I said and always taking a chance to tightly hug me whenever she could. Over the last two months Elise had delivered several dozen bags of Dark-type monster cores as Alice refused to eat anything I didn’t cook.
Leaving the dojo, Alice and I headed towards our home. Entering, I made my way upstairs, grabbing the healing potions we had ready as well as Lunaria’s Fury. Heading into the kitchen, I quickly made some ration cubes with the leftover vegetables and meat, a variation of mine. After making about twenty, I stored them away before checking the garden.
All of the seedlings had started growing, some of which were nearly fully grown, while some still sproutlings. Those that were slow to grow were fine as they required some more time to grow then the others. Seeing as none required any harvesting, I went back inside. Alice was running around looking at the various rooms in excitement and hearing me call out, she ran to my side.
Walking down the streets towards Dungeon Avenue, we received some hostile glares which we ignored. I had thought Alice might be intimidated but she seemed to ignore the stares as well. After asking an adventurer group, we quickly found the entrance to the Battlefield of Eternity.
A guard stood by the doors, and upon seeing Alice and I he frowned. “I’m sorry, but I can not allow you to enter. A Bronze Grade and a Level 1 would die within.”
Taking out a letter from my bag, I handed it to him as his frown deepened. Opening the letter, he read the contents while seeming a bit confused. Looking both of us over, he sighed.
“Masters who think their disciples are ready…foolish. Alright, enter. I’ll inform the Guild that Bronze Grade adventurer Alisha and her companion Alice have entered the Battlefield of Eternity and are likely to perish within.”
Frowning at his comment, I decided to simply ignore him as Alice followed me towards the doors, and opening them we were met with a flash of light.
When the light faded, we were on top of the walls of a city. Around us were guards that were fighting against an army. Tael had told me the general layout of this dungeon. It’s an ancient battlefield, where the forces of an unknown army attempted to lay siege to this city, the reason for doing so were unknown but they had a certain amount of fear.
The reason why it was recommended for us to enter this dungeon is because when you attacked the army, they were at first surprised by you attacking which caused them to be easy to kill and it took a while for them to turn on you. Parties came in here to clear up to the Guardian on the other side of the attacking army, earning an easy dungeon clear. As expected, the dungeon quest came up.
Dungeon Quest: Defeat the Unknown.
An army lays siege to the city of Hale for reasons that are unknown, even to those within the city. The attackers do not hesitate to kill those within the city, however there is a fear when they kill. Find out the reason for their fear, and defeat the Guardian.
Rewards will be determined on performance.
Current Dungeon Performance: F
Seeing the quest, I had expected it thanks to what Tael had told me. This dungeon had been done hundreds of times, parties had attempted over and over to find why there was a fear within the attacking army but had been unsuccessful. They had even turned on the city, but found nothing, the city was too large for them to successfully investigate everywhere, even with swapping information they had simply given up as they were unable to find anything.
Even with trying to interrogate those within the attacking army, they simply weren’t able to find a reason for their fear so instead they simply turned to making the dungeon as efficient as possible, taking years to find a route that parties could easily go through for the best experience and materials. Tael had told me the best route, but I figured it would be best to just focus on practising Flowing Strikes and minimal movements.
As I prepare to jump off the edge, Alice suddenly tugs at my shirt. Turning, I smiled and asked her what was wrong. She was staring intently into the inner city, a serious expression on her face. Pointing inwards, she turned to me.
“Darkness.”
Frowning, I looked towards where she pointed. She pointed to the left of the centre of the city, where a large castle sat. Such an obvious building must’ve been searched before, though I knew Alice had an extraordinary sense when it came to detecting darkness magic or energy. The teacher Halone had introduced to us, simply going by the name Ken, had told me Alice had potential he had never seen when it came to Darkness magic, she absorbed everything he taught her with no difficulties…when she would listen.
Turning to look at the attacking army, I knew that others had gotten poor performance when doing this dungeon, but it was still popular because of the amount of enemies and materials. Thinking back to the Temple of the Blood Gods, had Alice found the True Route for this dungeon, or is it something else?
“Alright, Alice. Let’s go check it out.”
“Yes!” Alice jumps onto my back as we leap off the wall towards the city. The guards around us look at us with some confusion before focusing back on the army outside their walls. The guards that defended gave no experience, so they were ignored by those who came in here.
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Making our way through the streets of the city, the closer we got to the castle the emptier the streets became, until we were the only ones walking along the streets. Tael had mentioned this, as it turns out the city was devoid of any living beings or monsters, which is why most had given up investigating the city in full. Arriving outside of the castle after an hour of walking, I looked up at it and couldn’t sense anything strange.
“Are you sure, Alice?”
“NO!” Shouting, she points at the castle. Frowning, I suddenly remembered Alice wasn’t good with her words yet, so she might be pointing in a direction. Walking around the castle, I checked with Alice and saw her still pointing in the same direction.
Following her finger as we walk through several abandoned streets, we finally circle a run down shack. Knowing she was pointing towards the shack, or something inside, we walked inside and straight away I knew something was wrong. I felt the hairs on my neck stand as I looked around, but didn’t see anything strange, though we were only standing in the corridor. In front of us was a single wooden door that Alice was pointing towards.
While I had a sense of danger, Alice seemed to have a sense of excitement. Keeping my guard up, I opted to kick the door open. Watching the door explode into splinters while most of it flew off the hinges, a room entered our vision that made me frown.
Various body parts of humans scattered the ground, while heads of various humans, evolved monsters or monsters hang on the wall, a spike impaled through their forehead, dozens of them were impaled in the wall. In the middle of the room was an altar, with a freshly dissected body, the blood only a few hours old.
“Alice, is it here?” The sight didn’t bother me, but rather this sense of danger was bothering me, yet nothing was alive around here. Alice points directly beneath us.
“Down!” Below us? While I’m thinking about it, something strange happened with the System.
Quest Received!
Clap three times: Clap your hands happily three times!
Rewards are determined based on your performance.
Huh?! Alice hadn’t reacted so I knew she’d yet to receive this strange quest though I wasn’t sure if she could. Thinking for a moment, I put on a smile and clapped three times.
Quest completed!
Clap three times completed. Rewards available:
2x Moon Goddess Warding Charm.
1x Written Note
Raising an eyebrow, I claimed the rewards as two waning moon symbols landed in my hand, followed by a folded piece of paper. The symbols were made from a shining silver metal and felt soft to the touch.
Moon Goddess Warding Charm
Protects the user from the Darkness while preventing them from being controlled. The Moon Goddess will forever be your light in the darkness.
Why am I receiving such a thing? Unfolding the note, everything quickly made sense.
"Alisha,
I can not write much, as the System will simply refuse to allow me to give you this quest and reward if I do so.
Be careful. You and Alice have stumbled onto something truly sinister, these Charms will assist you greatly but what you’re about to face is on another level from what you’re used to. If I had known Alice could find that I would’ve told you not to go, but now you’re here you should see it for yourself, the rotten side of all living beings.
Alisha, remember, stay alive. Your fate does not end here, get out if you must but don’t allow yourself to become a Fallen. I will explain the truth to you once you have conquered the True Route of that dungeon.
May the Moon Goddess protect you.
Selenia."
‘So she was related to the Moon Goddess.’ Pursing my lips while wondering what a 'Fallen' is, I ask Alice to hop off. Turning to her, I crouch and put the charm around her neck as she hugs me.
“Mummy, thank!” Giggling while she talks, I ruffle her hair while putting on my charm. As soon as I did, I felt that sense of danger disappear completely as the room around us changed.
Raising an eyebrow, I looked at the spiral staircase that led downwards where the altar previously sat. If I had approached the altar I would’ve fallen down those stairs, was that why I felt that sense of danger? Looking at the walls, the impaled heads were still there.
The charm on both Alice and I was slightly shining silver, and taking this to mean its protection was working, I lifted Alice and held her in my arms as she hugged my neck. If need be, Alice could erect a cocoon of Darkness around the both of us on reflex, something she’d learnt from Ken. As my foot landed on the first step down, the creepiest sight filled my vision.
All the heads, the dozens that were impaled and dead, all snapped their eyes onto me. As one, they whispered.
“Celestia…” The word echoes through the room for a moment before they all scream. Just as the scream started, Alice quickly surrounded us with a cocoon.
“BAD!” Raising her fist and shaking it at the heads, Alice sounded cute rather than angry. “DON’T HURT MUMMY!”
Tilting my head, I looked through the cocoon of Darkness. It was there, but Alice and I could see past it while others couldn’t see us. The heads were disappearing one by one in a burst of black flames and soon they had all vanished.
You have found an alternative route.
Current Dungeon Performance: F -> D
The highest a group has gotten before was D+ rank from fighting the army in front, so getting this ranking now meant we were on the True Route. Tael had explained that True Route’s were unknown and most were down to chance, but this time Alice had managed to find the starting point.
Once all the heads disappeared, I looked around once more before telling Alice it was safe. As she nods, the cocoon fades and we continue down the stairs. The darkness didn’t obstruct me and checking with Alice, she wasn’t bothered by it either, though to her perhaps this darkness wasn’t anything special.
As we continued walking down for nearly an hour, we finally arrived at the bottom of the stairs into a narrow corridor. On either side were cells leading down the hallway, and as we walked past them I saw nothing within them, yet they showed signs of having been lived in before. Alice remained quiet, yet from our bond I could tell she had become rather serious.
There were no sources of light, which wasn’t a concern for me, but it did make me wonder how others would handle something like this. The illusion of the altar as well, how would’ve people found the stairs down here…then again, Tael had said others gave up on exploring the city, so it's likely no one found that shack.
Reaching the end of this corridor, we were met with a slightly ajar iron door. Placing a hand on it I found it to be cold to the touch as I pushed it open. Even with my strength I found it to be a bit heavy. Swinging the door open completely, we arrived in a large, open room or rather a cave. At the other end stood a giant four armed monster, with bulging muscles and pitch black eyes. It had a bull head with massive horns.
Level 45 Guardian of the Doors to Darkness, Ruel
Minotaur of Darkness
Health: ???/???
Alice jumps off my back as the Guardian looks at us. Behind it stood a large door, which must’ve been the Doors to Darkness that it guarded.
Getting ready to fight this monster, it lowered itself to the ground and let out an ear piercing roar. It charges towards me with speed that I found unexpected for its size. Standing still, I watched as two massive talons rose out of the ground and grabbed its arms, halting its charge completely.
“Domain.” Using a Lunar Blessing on myself at the same time, I dashed forward, covering the distance of several metres in seconds. Using the talons of Darkness, Alice dragged the monster down onto its knees as I used Flowing Strikes, smashing my fists into its chest. At first, my strikes were weak, but very quickly they became stronger, until I felt my fists sinking into its chest, leaving indents while I could hear bones cracking.
Surrounding my fists with sharp wind, I start throwing punches at its chest while also using Astral Ice Spikes to strike the newly opened wounds. The Minotaur roars in both pain and fury, very quickly becoming whimpers instead.
Slamming my fist into its jaw, I send it slamming into the ground as I land on the lake. Withdrawing my Domain, I looked down at the Minotaur with satisfaction. I had found the right amount of strength to deal a high amount of damage and with my speed of attacks, and held from Alice, it had fallen quickly. I knew it hadn’t died yet, and as I raised a hand to finish it, I felt a tugging on my shirt.
Looking down at Alice, she looked at the Minotaur with some excitement and hunger. Pointing at it, Alice said “Mummy, yummy!”
Lowering my fist, I looked at the Minotaur and wondered if Alice meant its lifeforce…or the darkness within it.
“Alright Alice, it’s all yours.” With those words, Alice excitedly moves forward and places her tiny hand on the forehead of the beast. After a few seconds, a whirl of darkness started syphoning off the beast itself, with Alice drawing it into herself. Watching both her and the minotaur carefully for several minutes, Alice was soon done.
Alice has gained 500,000xp
Ruel has been freed of the Darkness, he is no longer controlled thanks to your actions. This is an unexpected situation, updating Dungeon Performance.
Current Dungeon Performance: D -> C
Hmm? Within a short amount of time we’d gained two ranks for the Dungeon Performance. The Minotaur stirs awake, and looking at its condition it had mostly healed from its injuries. Grabbing Alice, I leap backwards. The minotaur sits up in the next moment before looking around, before its eyes land on us.
“Who are you?” Speaking with some confusion, Ruel looks at us. Wondering what I should do, Alice jumps up and down excitedly.
“Alice! Thank, yummy!” Smiling, I knew Alice was trying to thank Ruel for the darkness she’d consumed from him. Crossing my arms, I looked at Ruel while wondering what to say.